Method for reducing delivery latency of an image or other secondary information associated with a file

ABSTRACT

A method of providing a document to a client coupled to a server is provided. The server provides a number of Internet services to the client, including functioning as a caching proxy on behalf of the client for purposes of accessing the World Wide Web. The proxying server includes a persistent document database, which stores various attributes of all documents previously retrieved in response to a request from a client. When a Web document is retrieved from a remote server in response to a request from the client, the database is consulted and the stored information relating to the requested document is used by the server in transcoding the document. The document is transcoded for various purposes, including to circumvent bugs or quirks found in the document, to size the document for display on a television set, to improve transmission efficiency of the document, and to reduce latency. The transcoder makes use of the document database to perform these functions. The document database is also used for prefetching previously requested documents and images and for reducing latency when downloading images to the client.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional of U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,013,issued on Jun. 29, 1999, entitled "METHOD OF TRANSCODING DOCUMENTS IN ANETWORK ENVIRONMENT USING A PROXY SERVER".

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional of application application Ser. No. 08/656,924filed Jun. 3, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,013.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to the field of client-server computernetworking. More particularly, the present invention relates to a methodand apparatus for providing proxying and document transcoding in aserver in a computer network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The number of people using personal computers has increasedsubstantially in recent years, and along with this increase has come anexplosion in the use of the Internet. One particular aspect of theInternet which has gained widespread use is the World-Wide Web ("theWeb"). The Web is a collection of formatted hypertext pages located onnumerous computers around the world that are logically connected by theInternet. Advances in network technology and software providing userinterfaces to the Web ("Web browsers") have made the Web accessible to alarge segment of the population. However, despite the growth in thedevelopment and use of the Web, many people are still unable to takeadvantage of this important resource.

Access to the Web has been limited thus far mostly to people who haveaccess to a personal computer. However, many people cannot afford thecost of even a relatively inexpensive personal computer, while othersare either unable or unwilling to learn the basic computer skills thatare required to access the Web. Furthermore, Web browsers in the priorart generally do not provide the degree of user-friendliness desired bysome people, and many computer novices do not have the patience to learnhow to use the software. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide aninexpensive means by which a person can access the Web without the useof a personal computer. In particular, it would be desirable for aperson to be able to access the Web pages using an ordinary televisionset and a remote control, so that the person feels more as if he or sheis simply changing television channels, rather than utilizing a complexcomputer network.

Prior art Web technology also has other significant limitations whichcan make a person's experience unpleasant when browsing the Web. Webdocuments are commonly written in HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language).HTML documents sometimes contain bugs (errors) or have features that arenot recognized by certain Web browsers. These bugs or quirks in adocument can cause a Web browser to fail. Thus, what is needed is ameans for reducing the frequency with which client systems fail due tobugs or quirks in HTML documents.

Another problem associated with browsing the Web is latency. Peoplecommonly experience long, frustrating delays when browsing the Web. Itis not unusual for a person to have to wait minutes after selecting ahypertext link for a Web page to be completely downloaded to hiscomputer and displayed on his computer screen. There are many possiblecauses for latency, such as heavy communications traffic on the Internetand slow response of remote servers. Latency can also be caused by Webpages including images. One reason for this effect is that, when an HTMLdocument references an image, it takes time to retrieve the image itselfafter the referencing document has been retrieved. Another reason isthat, in the prior art, if the referencing document does not specify thesize of the image, the client system generally cannot display the Webpage until the image itself has been retrieved. Numerous others sourcesof latency exist with respect to the Web. Therefore, what is needed is ameans for reducing such latency, to eliminate some of the frustrationwhich typically has been associated with browsing the Web.

Security is another concern associated with the Internet. Internetservice providers (ISPs) generally maintain certain information abouteach customer in a database. This information may include informationwhich a customer may not wish to become publicly known, such as socialsecurity numbers and credit card numbers. Maintaining theconfidentiality of this information in a system that is connected to anexpensive publicly-accessible computer network like the Internet can beproblematic. Further, the problem can be aggravated by the fact that anISP often provides numerous different services, each of which has accessto this database. Allowing access to the database by many differententities creates many opportunities for security breaches to occur.Therefore, what is needed is a way to improve the security ofconfidential customer information in a server system coupled to theInternet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method is described of providing a document to a client coupled to aserver. The server functions as a proxy on behalf of the client forpurposes of accessing a remote server. In the method, a document isretrieved from the remote server in response to a request from theclient. The document includes data to be used by the client ingenerating a display. The proxying server alters the data in thedocument to form a transcoded document. The transcoded document is thentransmitted to the client.

Other features of the present invention will be apparent from theaccompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which likereferences indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates several clients connected to a proxying server in anetwork.

FIG. 2 illustrates a client according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a server according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 4A illustrates a server including a proxy cache and a transcoder.

FIG. 4B illustrates databases used in a server according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for transcoding adocument retrieved from a remote server using data stored in apersistent database.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for transcoding an HTMLdocument for purposes of eliminating bugs or undesirable features.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for reducing latencywhen downloading a document referencing an image to a client.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for updating documentsstored in the proxy cache using data stored in a persistent database.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine used by a server forretrieving documents from another remote server.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a prior art server system showing arelationship between various services and a database.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a server system according to the presentinvention showing a relationship between various services and a userdatabase.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a routine used by a server forregulating access to various services provided by the server.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method and apparatus are described for providing proxying andtranscoding of documents in a network. In the following description, forpurposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. Itwill be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the presentinvention may be practiced without these specific details. In otherinstances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagramform in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

The present invention includes various steps, which will be describedbelow. The steps can be embodied in machine-executable instructions,which can be used to cause a general-purpose or special-purposeprocessor programmed with the instructions to perform the steps.Alternatively, the steps of the present invention might be performed byspecific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performingthe steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components andcustom hardware components.

I. System Overview

The present invention is included in a system, known as WebTV™, forproviding a user with access to the Internet. A user of a WebTV™ clientgenerally accesses a WebTV™ server via a direct-dial telephone (POTS,for "plain old telephone service"), ISDN (Integrated Services DigitalNetwork), or other similar connection, in order to browse the Web, sendand receive electronic mail (e-mail), and use various other WebTV™network services. The WebTV™ network services are provided by WebTV™servers using software residing within the WebTV™ servers in conjunctionwith software residing within a WebTV™ client.

FIG. 1 illustrates a basic configuration of the WebTV™ network accordingto one embodiment. A number of WebTV™ clients 1 are coupled to a modempool 2 via direct-dial, bidirectional data connections 29, which may betelephone (POTS, i.e., "plain old telephone service"), ISDN (IntegratedServices Digital Network), or any other similar type of connection. Themodem pool 2 is coupled typically through a router, such as thatconventionally known in the art, to a number of remote servers 4 via aconventional network infrastructure 3, such as the Internet. The WebTVT™system also includes a WebTV™ server 5, which specifically supports theWebTV™ clients 1. The WebTVT™ clients 1 each have a connection to theWebTV™ server 5 either directly or through the modem pool 2 and theInternet 3. Note that the modem pool 2 is a conventional modem pool,such as those found today throughout the world providing access to theInternet and private networks.

Note that in this description, in order to facilitate explanation theWebTV™ server 5 is generally discussed as if it were a single device,and functions provided by the WebTV™ services are generally discussed asbeing performed by such single device. However, the WebTV™ server 5 mayactually comprise multiple physical and logical devices connected in adistributed architecture, and the various functions discussed belowwhich are provided by the WebTV™ services may actually be distributedamong multiple WebTV™ server devices.

II. Client System

FIG. 2 illustrates a WebTV™ client 1. The WebTV™ client 1 includes anelectronics unit 10 (hereinafter referred to as "the WebTV™ box 10"), anordinary television set 12, and a remote control 11. In an alternativeembodiment of the present invention, the WebTV™ box 10 is built into thetelevision set 12 as an integral unit. The WebTV™ box 10 includeshardware and software for providing the user with a graphical userinterface, by which the user can access the WebTV™ network services,browse the Web, send e-mail, and otherwise access the Internet.

The WebTV™ client 1 uses the television set 12 as a display device. TheWebTV™ box 10 is coupled to the television set 12 by a video link 6. Thevideo link 6 is an RF (radio frequency), S-video, composite video, orother equivalent form of video link. In the preferred embodiment, theclient 1 includes both a standard modem and an ISDN modem, such that thecommunication link 29 between the WebTV™ box 10 and the server 5 can beeither a telephone (POTS) connection 29a or an ISDN connection 29b. TheWebTV™ box 10 receives power through a power line 7.

Remote control 11 is operated by the user in order to control the WebTV™client 1 in browsing the Web, sending e-mail, and performing otherInternet-related functions. The WebTV™ box 10 receives commands fromremote control 11 via an infrared (IR) communication link. Inalternative embodiments, the link between the remote control 11 and theWebTV™ box 10 may be RF or any equivalent mode of transmission.

III. Server System

The WebTV™ server 5 generally includes one or more computer systemsgenerally having the architecture illustrated in FIG. 3. It should benoted that the illustrated architecture is only exemplary; the presentinvention is not constrained to this particular architecture. Theillustrated architecture includes a central processing unit (CPU) 50,random access memory (RAM) 51, read-only memory (ROM) 52, a mass storagedevice 53, a modem 54, a network interface card (NIC) 55, and variousother input/output (I/O) devices 56. Mass storage device 53 includes amagnetic, optical, or other equivalent storage medium. I/O devices 56may include any or all of devices such as a display monitor, keyboard,cursor control device, etc. Modem 54 is used to communicate data to andfrom remote servers 4 via the Internet.

As noted above, the WebTV™ server 5 may actually comprise multiplephysical and logical devices connected in a distributed architecture.Accordingly, NIC 55 is used to provide data communication with otherdevices that are part of the WebTV™ services. Modem 54 may also be usedto communicate with other devices that are part of the WebTV™ servicesand which are not located in close geographic proximity to theillustrated device.

According to the present invention, the WebTV™ server 5 acts as a proxyin providing the WebTV™ client 1 with access to the Web and other WebTV™services. More specifically, WebTV™ server 5 functions as a "cachingproxy." FIG. 4A illustrates the caching feature of the WebTV™ server 5.In FIG. 4A, the WebTV™ server 5 is functionally located between theWebTV™ client 1 and the Internet infrastructure 3. The WebTV™ server 5includes a proxy cache 65 which is functionally coupled to the WebTV™client 1. The proxy cache 65 is used for temporary storage of Webdocuments, images, and other information which is used by frequentlyeither the WebTV™ client 1 or the WebTV™ server 5.

A document transcoder 66 is functionally coupled between the proxy cache65 and the Internet infrastructure 3. The document transcoder 66includes software which is used to automatically revise the code of Webdocuments retrieved from the remote servers 4, for purposes which aredescribed below.

The WebTV™ service provides a document database 61 and a user database62, as illustrated in FIG. 4B. The user database 62 contains informationthat is used to control certain features relating to access privilegesand capabilities of the user of the client 1. This information is usedto regulate initial access to the WebTV™ service, as well as to regulateaccess to the individual services provided by the WebTV™ system, as willbe described below. The document database 61 is a persistent databasewhich stores certain diagnostic and historical information about eachdocument and image retrieved by the server 5, as is now described.

A. Document Database

The basic purpose of the document database 61 is that, after a documenthas once been retrieved by the server 5, the stored information can beused by the server 5 to speed up processing and downloading of thatdocument in response to all future requests for that document. Inaddition, the transcoding functions and various other functions of theWebTV™ service are facilitated by making use of the information storedin the document database 61, as will be described below.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the server 5 initially receives a documentrequest from a client 1 (step 501). The document request will generallyresult from the user of the client 1 activating a hypertext anchor(link) on a Web page. The act of activating a hypertext anchor mayconsist of clicking on underlined text in a displayed Web page using amouse, for example. The document request will typically (but not always)include the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or other address of theselected anchor. Upon receiving the document request, the server 5optionally accesses the document database 62 to retrieve storedinformation relating to the requested document (step 502). It should benoted that the document database 62 is not necessarily accessed in everycase. The information retrieved from the document database 62 is used bythe server 5 for determining, among other things, how long a requesteddocument has been cached and/or whether the document is still valid. Thecriteria for determining validity of the stored document are discussedbelow.

The server 5 retrieves the document from the cache 65 if the storeddocument is valid; otherwise, the server 5 retrieves the document fromthe appropriate remote server 4 (step 503). The server 5 automaticallytranscodes the document as necessary based on the information stored inthe document database 61 (step 503). The transcoding functions arediscussed further below.

The document database 61 includes certain historical and diagnosticinformation for every Web page that is accessed at any time by a WebTV™client 1. As is well known, a Web page may correspond to a documentwritten in a language such as HTML (Hypertext Mark-Up Language), VRML(Virtual Reality Modelling Language), or another suitable language.Alternatively, a Web page may represent an image, or a document whichreferences one or more images. According to the present invention, oncea document or image is retrieved by the WebTV™ server 5 from a remoteserver 4 for the first time, detailed information on this document orimage is stored permanently in the document database 61. Morespecifically, for every Web page that is retrieved from a remote server4, any or all of the following data are stored in the document database61:

1) information identifying bugs (errors) or quirks in the Web page, orundesirable effects caused when the Web page is displayed by a client 1;

2) relevant bug-finding algorithms;

3) the date and time the Web page was last retrieved;

4) the date and time the Web page was most recently altered by theauthor;

5) a checksum for determining whether the Web page has been altered;

6) the size of the Web page (in terms of memory);

7) the type of Web page (e.g., HTML document, image, etc.);

8) a list of hypertext anchors (links) in the Web page and correspondingURLs;

9) a list of the most popular anchors based on the number of "hits"(requests from a client 1);

10) a list of related Web pages which can be prefetched

11) whether the Web page has been redirected to another remote server 4;

12) a redirect address (if appropriate);

13) whether the redirect (if any) is temporary or permanent, and ifpermanent, the duration of the redirect;

14) if the Web page is an image, the size of the image in terms of bothphysical dimensions and memory space;

15) the sizes of in-line images (images displayed in text) referenced bythe document defining the Web page;

16) the size of the largest image referenced by the document;

17) information identifying any image maps in the Web page;

18) whether to resize any images corresponding to the Web page;

19) an indication of any forms or tables in the Web page;

20) any unknown protocols;

21) any links to "dead" Web pages (i.e., pages which are no longeractive);

22) the latency and throughput of the remote server 4 on which the Webpage is located;

23) the character set of the document;

24) the vendor of the remote server 4 on which the Web page is located;

25) the geographic location of the remote server 4 on which the Web pageis located;

26) the number of other Web pages which reference the subject Web page;

27) the compression algorithm used by the image or document;

28) the compression algorithm chosen by the transcoder;

29) a value indicating the popularity of the Web page based on thenumber of hits by clients; and

30) a value indicating the popularity of other Web pages which referencethe subject Web page.

B. Transcoding

As mentioned above, the WebTV™ services provide a transcoder 66, whichis used to rewrite certain portions of the code in an HTML document forvarious purposes. These purposes include: (1) correcting bugs indocuments; (2) correcting undesirable effects which occur when adocument is displayed by the client 1; (3) improving the efficiency oftransmission of documents from the server 5 to the client 1; (4)matching hardware decompression technology within the client 1; (5)resizing images to fit on the television set 12; (6) convertingdocuments into other formats to provide compatibility; (7) reducinglatency experienced by a client 1 when displaying a Web page within-line images (images displayed in text); and, (8) altering documentsto fit into smaller memory spaces.

There are three transcoding modes used by the transcoder 66: (1)streaming, (2) buffered, and (3) deferred. Streaming transcoding refersto the transcoding of documents on a line-by-line basis as they areretrieved from a remote server 4 and downloaded to the client 1 (i.e.,transcoding "on the fly"). Some documents, however, must first bebuffered in the WebTV™ server 5 before transcoding and downloading themto the client 1. A document may need to be buffered before transmittingit to the client 1 if the type of changes to be made can only be madeafter the entire document has been retrieved from the remote server 4.Because the process of retrieving and downloading a document to theclient 1 increases latency and decreases throughput, it is not desirableto buffer all documents. Therefore, the transcoder 66 accesses and usesinformation in the document database 61 relating to the requesteddocument to first determine whether a requested document must bebuffered for purposes of transcoding, before the document is retrievedfrom the remote server 4.

In the deferred mode, transcoding is deferred until after a requesteddocument has been downloaded to a client 1. The deferred mode thereforereduces latency experienced by the client 1 in receiving the document.Transcoding may be performed immediately after downloading or any timethereafter: For example, it may be convenient to perform transcodingduring periods of low usage of WebTV™ services, such as at night. Thismode is useful for certain types of transcoding which are not mandatory.

1. Transcoding for Bugs and Quirks

One characteristic of some prior art Web browsers is that they mayexperience failures ("crashes") because of bugs or unexpected features("quirks") that are present in a Web document. Alternatively, quirks ina document may cause an undesirable result, even though the client doesnot crash. Therefore, the transcoding feature of the present inventionprovides a means for correcting certain bugs and quirks in a Webdocument. To be corrected by the transcoder 66, bugs and quirks must beidentifiable by software running on the server 5. Consequently, thetranscoder 66 will generally only correct conditions which have beenpreviously discovered, such as those discovered during testing orreported by users. Once a bug or quirk is discovered, however,algorithms are added to the transcoder 66 to both detect the bug orquirk in the future in any Web document and to automatically correct it.

There are countless possibilities of bugs or quirks which might beencountered in a Web document. Therefore, no attempt will be made hereinto provide an exhaustive list. Nonetheless, some examples may be usefulat this point. Consider, for example, an HTML document that isdownloaded from a remote server 4 and which contains a table having awidth specified in the document as "0". This condition might cause afailure if the client were to attempt to display the document aswritten. This situation therefore, can be detected and corrected by thetranscoder 66. Another example is a quirk in the document which causesquotations to be terminated with too many quotation marks. Once thequirk is first detected and an algorithm is written to recognize it, thetranscoder 66 can automatically correct the quirk in any document.

If a given Web document has previously been retrieved by the server 5,there will be information regarding that document available in thedocument database 61 as described above. The information regarding thisdocument will include whether or not the document included any bugs orquirks that required transcoding when the document was previouslyretrieved. The transcoder 66 utilizes this information to determinewhether (1) the document is free of bugs and quirks, (2) the documenthas bugs or quirks which can be remedied by transcoding on the fly, or(3) the document has bugs or quirks which cannot be corrected on the fly(i.e., buffering is required).

FIG. 6 illustrates a routine for transcoding a Web document for purposesof eliminating bugs and quirks. Initially, the server 5 receives adocument request from the client 1 (step 601). Next, the documentdatabase 61 is accessed to determine whether or not the requesteddocument has been previously retrieved (step 602). If the document hasnot been previously retrieved, then the server 5 retrieves the documentfrom the remote server 4 (step 609). Next, the retrieved document isanalyzed for the presence of bugs or unusual conditions (step 610).Various diagnostic information is then stored in the document database61 as a result of the analysis to note any bugs or quirks that werefound (step 611). If any bugs or quirks were found which can becorrected by the transcoder 66, the document is then transcoded andsaved to the proxy cache 65 (step 612). The transcoded document is thendownloaded to the client 1 (step 613). It should be noted thattranscoding can be deferred until after the document has beendownloaded, as described above; hence, the sequence of FIG. 6 isillustrative only.

If (in step 602) the requested document had been previously retrieved,then it is determined whether the requested document is still valid(step 603) and whether the document is present in the proxy cache 65(step 604). If the document is no longer valid, then the document isretrieved from the remote server 4, analyzed for bugs and quirks,transcoded as required, and then downloaded to the client 1 as describedabove (steps 610-613, step 607). Methods for determining validity of adocument are discussed below. If the document is still valid (step 603)and the document is present in the cache 65, the document is downloadedto the client 1 in its current form (as it is stored in the cache),since it has already been transcoded (step 608).

The document, however, may be valid but not present in the cache. Thismay be the case, for example, if the document has not been requestedrecently and the cache 65 has become too full to retain the requesteddocument. In that case, the document is retrieved again from the remoteserver 4 (step 605) and then transcoded on the basis of thepreviously-acquired diagnostic information stored within the database 61for that document. The document is then saved to the cache 65 (step606). Note that because the document is still valid, it is assumed thatthe diagnostic information stored in the document database 61 for thatdocument is still valid and that the transcoding can be performed on thebasis of that information. Accordingly, once the document is transcoded,the transcoded document is downloaded to the client 1 (step 607). Again,note that transcoding can be deferred until after the document has beendownloaded in some cases.

The validity of the requested document can be determined based onvarious different criteria. For example, some HTML documents specify adate on which the document was created, a length of time for which thedocument will be valid, or both. The validity determination can be basedupon such information. For example, a document which specifies only thedate of creation can be automatically deemed invalid after apredetermined period of time has passed.

Alternatively, validity can be based upon the popularity of therequested document. "Popularity" can be quantified based upon the numberof hits for that document, which is tracked in the document database 61.For example, it might be prudent to simply assign a relatively shortperiod of validity to a document which is very popular and a longerperiod of validity to a document which is less popular.

Another alternative basis for the validity of a document is the observedrate of change of the document. Again, data in the persistent documentdatabase 61 can be used. That is, because the document database 61stores the date and time on which the document was last observed tochange, the server 5 can approximate how often the document actuallychanges. A document or image which is observed to change frequently(e.g., a weather map or a news page) can be assigned a relatively shortperiod of validity. It will be recognized that numerous other ways ofdetermining validity are possible.

2. Transcoding to Reduce Latency

Another purpose for transcoding is to allow documents requested by aclient 1 to be displayed by the client 1 more rapidly. Many HTMLdocuments contain references to "in-line" images, or images that will bedisplayed in text in a Web page. The normal process used in the priorart to display a Web page having in-line images is that the HTMLdocument referencing the image is first downloaded to the client,followed by the client's requesting the referenced image. The referencedimage is then retrieved from the remote server on which it is locatedand downloaded to the client. One problem associated with the prior art,however, is that the speed with which a complete Web page can bedisplayed to the user is often limited by the time it takes to retrievein-line images. One reason for this is that it simply takes time toretrieve the image itself after the referencing document has beenretrieved. Another reason is that, in the prior art, if the referencingdocument does not specify the size of the image, the Web page generallycannot be displayed until the image itself has been retrieved. Thepresent invention overcomes these limitations.

According to the present invention, information stored in the documentdatabase 61 regarding the in-line images is used to transcode thereferencing document in order to reduce latency in displaying the Webpage. Once any document which references an in-line image is initiallyretrieved by the server 5, the fact that the document references anin-line image is stored in the document database 61. In addition, thesize of the image is determined, either from the document (if specified)or from the image itself, and then stored in the document database 61.Consequently, for documents which do not specify the size of theirin-line images, the size information stored in the database 61 is thenused the next time the document is requested in order to reduce latencyin downloading and displaying the Web page.

Refer now to FIG. 7, which illustrates a routine for reducing latencywhen downloading a document referencing an image to a client 1. Assumethat a client 1 sends a request to the server 5 for an HTML documentcontaining a reference to an in-line image. Assume further that the sizeof the image is not specified in the document itself. Initially, theserver 5 determines whether that document has been previously retrieved(step 701). If not, the standard initial retrieval and transcodingprocedure is followed (step 706), as described in connection with FIG.6. If, however, the document has been previously retrieved, then thetranscoder 66 accesses the size information stored in the documentdatabase 61 for the in-line image (step 702). Based on this sizeinformation, the HTML document is transcoded such that, when the Webpage is initially displayed by the client 1, the area in which the imagebelongs is replaced by a blank region enveloping the shape of the image(step 703). Thus, any in-line image referenced by a document isdisplayed initially as a blank region. Consequently, the client 1 canimmediately display the Web page corresponding to the HTML document evenbefore the referenced image has been retrieved or downloaded (i.e., evenbefore the size of the image is known to the client 1).

As the transcoded HTML document is downloaded to the client, the imageis retrieved from the appropriate remote server 4 (step 704). Once theimage is retrieved from the remote server 4 and downloaded to the client1, the client 1 replaces the blank area in the Web page with the actualimage (step 705).

3. Transcoding to Display Web Pages on a Television

As noted above, the client 1 utilizes an ordinary television set 12 as adisplay device. However, images in Web pages are generally formatted fordisplay on a computer monitor, not a television set. Consequently, thetranscoding function of the present invention is used to resize imagesfor display on the television set 12. This includes resealing images asnecessary to avoid truncation when displayed on the television set 12.

It should be noted that prior art Web browsers which operate on computermonitors typically use resizable windows. Hence, the size of the visibleregion varies from client to client. However, because the web browserused by the WebTV™ client 1 is specifically designed for display on atelevision set, the present invention allows documents and images to beformatted when they are cached.

4. Transcoding for Transmission Efficiency

Documents retrieved by the server 5 are also transcoded to improvetransmission efficiency. In particular, documents can be transcoded inorder to reduce high frequency components in order to reduce interlaceflicker when they are displayed on a television set. Various methods forcoding software or hardware to reduce perceptual interlace flicker aredescribed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/677,915,filed on Jul. 9, 1996, and issuing as U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,909 on Apr.28, 1998.

Documents can also be transcoded in order to lower the resolution of thedisplayed Web page. Reducing the resolution is desirable, because imagesformatted for computer systems will generally have a higher resolutionthan the NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) video formatused by conventional television sets. Since the NTSC video does not havethe bandwidth to reproduce the resolution of computer-formatted images,the bandwidth consumed in transmitting images to the client 1 at such ahigh resolution would be wasted.

5. Other Uses for Transcoding

Transcoding is also used by the present invention to recode a documentusing new formats into older, compatible formats. Images are oftendisplayed in the JPEG point Picture Experts Group) format or the GIFimage format. JPEG often consumes less bandwidth than GIF, however.Consequently, images which are retrieved in GIF format are sometimestranscoded into JPEG format. Methods for generally converting imagesbetween GIF and JPEG formats are well known.

Other uses for transcoding include transcoding audio files. For example,audio may be transcoded into different formats in order to achieve adesired balance between memory usage, sound quality, and data transferrate. In addition, audio may be transcoded from a file format (e.g., an".AU" file) to a streaming format (e.g., MPEG 1 audio). Yet another useof audio transcoding is the transcoding of MIDI (Musical InstrumentDigital Interface) data to streaming variants of MIDI.

Additionally, documents or images requiring a large amount of memory(e.g., long lists) can be transcoded in order to consume less memoryspace in the client 1. This may involve, for example, separating a largedocument or image into multiple sections. For example, the server 5 caninsert tags at appropriate locations in the original document so thatthe document appears to the client 1 as multiple Web pages. Hence, whileviewing a given page representing a portion of the original document,the user can view the next page (i.e., the next portion of the originaldocument) by activating a button on the screen as if it were an ordinaryhypertext anchor.

C. Proxying

As noted above, the server 5 functions as a proxy on behalf of theclient 1 for purposes of accessing the Web. The document database 61 isused in various ways to facilitate this proxy role, as will now bedescribed.

1. Updating Cached Documents

It is desirable to store frequently-requested HTML documents and imagesin the proxy cache 65 to further reduce latency in providing Web pagesto the client 1. However, because some documents and images change overtime, documents in the cache 65 will not be valid indefinitely, asmentioned above. A weather map or a news-related Web page, for example,are likely to be updated quite frequently. Consequently, it is desirablefor the server 5 to have the ability to estimate the frequency withwhich documents change, in order to determine how long a document cansafely remain within the proxy cache 65 without being updated.

The persistent database 65 is used to store the date and time of thelast several fetches of each document and image retrieved from a remoteserver 4, along with an indication of any changes that were detected, ifany. A document or image which has been stored in the cache 65 is thenretrieved on a periodic basis to determine if it has been changed.Change status information indicating whether the document has changedsince the previous fetch is then stored in the document database 65. Ifno changes are detected, then the time interval between fetches of thisdocument is increased. If the document has changed, the time interval ismaintained or decreased. As a result, items in the cache 65 which changefrequently will be automatically updated at frequent intervals, whereasdocuments which do not change often will be replaced in the cache lessfrequently.

FIG. 8 illustrates a routine for updating documents stored in the proxycache 65 using data stored in the document database 61. Assume adocument X has been stored in the proxy cache 65. Document X remains inthe cache 65 until a predetermined update period T₁ expires (step 801).Upon the expiration of the update period T₁, the document X is againretrieved from the appropriate remote server 4 (step 802). Thenewly-retrieved document X is then compared to the cached version ofdocument X (step 803). If the document has changed, then the cachedversion of document X is replaced with the newly-retrieved version ofdocument X (step 806). If not, then the update period T₁ is increasedaccording to a predetermined time increment Δt₁ (step 804). In any case,the date and time and the change status of document X is saved to thedocument database 61 (step 805).

Document and Image Prefetching

The document database 61 is also used by the server 5 to storeprefetching information relating to documents and images. In particular,the database stores, for each document that has been retrieved, a listof images referenced by the document, if any, and their locations.Consequently, the next time a document is requested by a client 1, theimages can be immediately retrieved by the server 5 (from the cache 65,if available, or from the remote server 4), even before the client 1requests them. This procedure improves the speed with which requestedWeb pages are downloaded to the client.

The document database 61 is also used to facilitate a process referredto as "server-advised client prefetching." Server-advised clientprefetching allows the server 5 to inform the client 1 of documents orimages which are popular to allow the client 1 to perform theprefetching. In particular, for any given document, a list is maintainedin the server 5 of the most popular hypertext anchors in that document(i.e., those which have previously received a large number of hits).When that document is requested by the client 1, the server 5 providesthe client 1 with an indication of these popular links.

3. Redirects

Web pages are sometimes forwarded from the remote server on which theyare initially placed to a different location. Under the HTTP (HypertextTransport Protocol), such forwarding is sometimes referred to as a"redirect." When an HTML document is initially stored on one remoteserver and then later transferred to another remote server, the firstremote server will provide, in response to a request for that document,an indication that the document has been transferred to a new remoteserver. This indication generally includes a forwarding address("redirect address"), which is generally a URL.

In the prior art, when a computer requesting a Web page receives aredirect, it must then submit a new request to the redirect address.Having to submit a second request and wait for a second responseconsumes time and increases overall latency. Consequently, the presentinvention uses the document database 61 to store any redirect addressfor each document or image. Any time a redirected document is requested,the server 5 automatically accesses the redirect address to retrieve thedocument. The document or image is provided to the client 1 based ononly a single request from the client 1. The change in location of theredirected document or image remains completely transparent to theclient 1.

FIG. 9 illustrates a routine performed by the server 5 in accessingdocuments which may have been forwarded to a new remote server.Initially, the server 5 receives a request for a document, whichgenerally includes an address (step 901). The server 5 then accesses thedocument database 65 to determine whether there is a redirect addressfor the requested document (step 902). If there is no redirect address,then the server 5 accesses a remote server 4 based on the addressprovided in the document request from the client 1 (step 903). Assumingthat the remote server 4 does not respond to the server 5 with aredirect (step 904), the document is retrieved and downloaded to theclient 1 by the server 5 (step 907). If, however, a redirect address wasstored in the document database 65 (step 902), then the server 5accesses the requested document according to the redirect address (step906). Or, if the remote server 4 responded with a redirect (step 904),then the server 5 saves the redirect address to the document database 61(step 905) and accesses the requested document according to the redirectaddress (step 906).

4. Other Proxy Functions

The document database 65 also stores information relating to theperformance of each remote server 4 from which a document is retrieved.This information includes the latency and throughput of the remoteserver 4. Such information can be valuable in instances where a remoteserver 4 has a history of responding slowly. For example, when thedocument is requested, this knowledge can be used by the server 5 toprovide a predefined signal to the client 1. The client 1 can, inresponse to the signal, indicate to the user that a delay is likely andgive the user the option of canceling the request.

5. Backoff Mode

Although the server 5 generally operates in the proxy mode, it can alsoenter a "backoff mode" in which the server 5 does not act as a proxy, orthe server 5 performs only certain aspects of the normal proxyingfunctions. For example, if the proxy cache 65 is overloaded, then theserver 5 can enter a backoff mode in which documents are not cached butare transcoded as required. Alternatively, during times when the server5 is severely overloaded with network traffic, the server 5 may instructthe client 1 to bypass the server 5 and contact remote servers 4directly for a specified time or until further notice. Or, the server 5can enter a flexible backoff mode in which the client 1 will beinstructed to contact a remote server 4 directly only for certain Websites for a limited period of time.

D. Access to WebTV™ Services

The WebTV™ server 5 provides various services to the client 1, such asproxying and electronic mail ("e-mail"). In the prior art, certaindifficulties are associated with allowing a client computer access todifferent services of an Internet service, as will now be explained withreference to FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 illustrates a client-server system according to one prior artembodiment. The server 76 provides various services A, B, and C. Theserver 76 includes a database 71 for storing information on the user'saccess privileges to services A, B, and C. The client 75 of theembodiment of FIG. 10 accesses any of services A, B, and C by contactingthat service directly. The contacted service then accesses the database71, which stores the access privileges of the client 75, to determinewhether the client 75 should be allowed to access that service. Hence,each service provided by the server 76 requires direct access to thedatabase 71. This architecture results in a large number of accessesbeing made to the database 71, which is undesirable. In addition, thefact that each service independently has access to the database 71raises security concerns. Specifically, it can be difficult to isolatesensitive user information. The present invention overcomes suchdifficulties using a technique which is now descried.

1. Tickets Containing Privileges And Capabilities

As shown in FIG. 11, the server 5 provides a number of services, namely,service D 77, service E 79, and service F 80, and a log-in service 78.The log-in service is used specifically to control initial log-onprocedures by a client 1. The log-in service 78 has exclusive access tothe user database 62 (discussed above with respect to FIG. 4B). Thelog-in service 78 and the user database 62 are located within a firstsecurity zone 84. Service D 77 is located within a second security zone86, while service E 79 and F 80 are contained within a third securityzone 88. Note that the specific arrangement of security zones 84, 86,and 88 with respect to services D 77, E 79, and F 80 is illustrativeonly.

The user database 66 of the present invention stores various informationpertaining to each authorized user of a client 1. This informationincludes account information, a list of the WebTV™ that services areavailable to the particular user, and certain user preferences. Forexample, a particular user may not wish his client 1 to be used toaccess Web pages having adult-oriented subject matter. Consequently, theuser would request that his account be filtered to prevent access tosuch material. This request would then be stored as part of the userdata in the user database 66.

With regard to user preferences, the hypertext links selected by a givenuser can be tracked, and those having the largest number can be storedin the user database 66. The list can then be provided to the client 1for use in generating a menu screen of the user's favorite Web sites, toallow the user to directly access those Web sites. The list can also beused by the server 5 to analyze the user's interests and to formulateand provide to the user a list of new Web sites which the user is likelyto be interested in. The list might be composed by associated key wordsin Web pages selected by the user with other Web pages.

Referring again to FIG. 11, in response to a log-on request by a client1, the log-in service 78 consults the user database 62 to determine ifaccess to the server 5 by this particular client 1 is authorized.Assuming access is authorized, the log-in service 78 retrieves certainuser information pertaining to this particular client 1 from the userdatabase 62. The log-in service then generates a "ticket" 82, which isan information packet including the retrieved information. The ticket 82is then provided to the client 1 which requested access.

The ticket 82 includes all information necessary to describe the accessprivileges of a particular user with respect to all services provided bythe server 5. For example, the ticket may include the user nameregistered to the client 1, the e-mail address assigned to client 1, andany filtering requested by the user with respect to viewing Web sites.Each time the user requests access to one of the services D 77, E 79, orF 80, the client 1 submits a copy of the ticket 82 to the service. Therequested service can then determine from the copy of the ticket 82whether access to that service by that client 1 is authorized and, ifso, any important information relating to such access.

None of the services provided by the server 5, other than the log-inservice 78, has access to the user database 62. Hence, anysecurity-sensitive information can be isolated within the user database62 and the log-in service 78. Such isolation allows the individualservices provided by the server 5 to be placed within separate"firewalls" (security regions), illustrated as security zones 84, 86,and 88. In addition, this technique greatly reduces the number ofaccesses required to the user database 62 compared to the prior artembodiment illustrated in FIG. 10.

2. Redundancy of Services and Load Balancing

The present invention also includes certain redundancies in the variousservices provided by the server 5. In particular, a given service (e.g.,e-mail) can be provided by more than one physical or logical device.Each such device is considered a "provider" of that service. If a givenprovider is overloaded, or if the client 1 is unable to contact thatprovider, the client 1 can contact any of the other providers of thatservice. When the server 5 receives a log-in request from a client 1, inaddition to generating the above-described ticket 82, the log-in service78 dynamically generates a list of available WebTV™ services andprovides this list to the client 1.

The server 5 can update the list of services used by any client 1 toreflect services becoming unavailable or services coming on-line. Also,the list of services provided to each client 1 can be updated by theserver 5 based upon changes in the loading of the server 5, in order tooptimize traffic on the server 5. In addition, a client's list ofservices can be updated by services other than the log-in service 78,such that one service can effectively introduce another service to theclient 1. For example, the e-mail service may provide a client 1 withthe name, port number and IP of its address book service. Thus, oneservice can effectively, and securely within the same chain of trust,introduce another service to the client 1.

This list of services includes the name of each service, a port numberfor the provider of each service, and an IP (Internet Protocol) for eachservice. Different providers of the same service are designated by thesame name, but different port numbers and/or IPs. Note that in astandard URL, the protocol is normally specified at the beginning of theURL, such as "HTTP://www . . . " under the HTTP protocol. However,according to the present invention, the normal protocol designation(i.e., "HTTP") in the URL is replaced with the name of the service,since the port number and IP for each service are known to the client 2.Hence, the client 1 can access any of the redundant providers of a givenservice using the same URL. This procedure effectively adds a level ofindirection to all accesses made to any WebTV™ service and automaticallyadds redundancy to the proxy service. It should also be noted thatseparate service names can also refer to the same service.

Assume, for example, that the e-mail service provided by the WebTV™system is designated by the service name "WTV-mailto." A client 1 canaccess any provider of this e-mail service using the same URL. Theclient 1 merely chooses the appropriate port number and IP number todistinguish between providers. If the client 1 is unable to connect toone e-mail provider, it can simply contact the next one in the list.

Thus, at log-in time, a client 1 is provided with both a ticketcontaining privileges and capabilities as well as a list of serviceproviders, as illustrated in FIG. 12. Initially, the log-in service 78determines whether the user of client 1 is a valid user (step 1201). Ifnot, log-in is denied (step 1205). If the user is a valid user, then thelog-in service 78 gathers user information from the user database 62 andgenerates a ticket 82 (step 1202). The log-in service 78 also generatesthe above-described list of services (step 1203). The ticket 82 and thelist of services are then downloaded to the client 1 (step 1204).

3. Asynchronous Notification to Clients by Server

Another limitation associated with prior art Internet servers is theinability to provide asynchronous notification information to the clientin the absence of a request from the client to do so. It would bedesirable, for example, for a server to notify a client on its owninitiative when a particular Web page has changed or that a particularservice is inaccessible. The server 5 of the present invention providessuch capability, and the client 1 is configured to receive and decodesuch notifications. For example, the client 1 can receive updates of itslisting of service providers from the server 5 at various points intime, as already described. Similarly, if a particular service providerbecomes unavailable, that fact will be automatically communicated to theclient 1. As another example, if e-mail addressed to the user has beenreceived by the server 5, then the server 5 will send a message to theclient 1 indicating this fact. The client 1 will then notify the userthat e-mail is waiting by a message displayed on the television set 12or by an LED (light emitting diode) built into the housing of WebTV™ box10.

Thus, a method and apparatus have been described for providing proxyingand transcoding of documents in a network Although the present inventionhas been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, itwill be evident that various modifications and changes may be made tothese embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope ofthe invention as set forth in the claims. Accordingly, the specificationand drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than arestrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for reducing delivery latency in acomputer network when downloading electronic documents to a clientsystem from a proxy server, the computer network including (i) aplurality of remote servers for accessing a plurality of network sitescontaining various types of content that can be viewed and downloaded,the network sites including electronic documents that contain bothimages and text for downloading, (ii) at least one proxy server forcaching content from frequently accessed sites of one or more of theremote servers, and (iii) a plurality of client systems to which one ormore such electronic documents are to be downloaded for display, whereinthe method comprises the steps of:storing at the proxy server a documentdatabase for electronic documents previously requested by clientsystems, said database including information about the requesteddocuments to facilitate transcoding and downloading of a document whenrequested by a client system, said information including information asto whether a document includes an image in addition to text, and if so,an indication as to the physical size of the image; receiving at theproxy server a request from a client system for a document; determiningat the proxy server whether the requested document is referenced in saiddocument database, and if not adding to the document database theinformation for that document after the document has been retrieved froma remote server; and if the requested document is referenced in saiddocument database, initially downloading to the client system therequested document by leaving a blank area in the downloaded documentthat corresponds to the image so that the text of the requested documentcan be viewed at the client system while the image is retrieved from aremote server and then subsequently downloaded to the client system. 2.A method according to claim 1 wherein the electronic document comprisesa hypertext document.
 3. A method according to claim 2, wherein thehypertext document corresponds to a World Wide Web page.
 4. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the text and the image are storedseparately in said proxy server.
 5. A computer readable medium for usein a computer network that includes (i) a plurality of remote serversfor accessing a plurality of network sites containing various types ofcontent that can be viewed and downloaded including electronic documentsthat contain both images and text for downloading, (ii) at least oneproxy server for caching content from frequently accessed sites of oneor more of the remote servers, and (iii) a plurality of client systemsto which one or more such electronic documents are to be downloaded fordisplay, wherein the computer readable medium carries computerexecutable instructions for implementing in said computer network amethod for reducing delivery latency when downloading such electronicdocuments to a client system from said proxy server, wherein thecomputer readable medium carries the following:computer executableinstructions for performing a step for storing at the proxy server adocument database for electronic documents previously requested byclient systems, said database including information about the requesteddocuments to facilitate transcoding and downloading of a document whenrequested by a client system, said information including information asto whether a document includes an image in addition to text, and if so,an indication as to the physical size of the in-line image; computerexecutable instructions for performing a step for receiving at the proxyserver a request from a client system for a document; computerexecutable instructions for performing a step for determining at theproxy server whether the requested document is referenced in saiddocument database, and if not adding to the document database theinformation for that document after the document has been retrieved froma remote server; and computer executable instructions for performing astep for if the requested document is referenced in said documentdatabase, initially downloading to the client system the requesteddocument by leaving a blank area in the downloaded document thatcorresponds to the image so that the text of the requested document canbe viewed at the client system while the image is retrieved from aremote server and then subsequently downloaded to the client system. 6.A computer readable medium according to claim 5 wherein the electronicdocument comprises a hypertext document.
 7. A computer readable mediumaccording to claim 5 wherein the text and the image are storedseparately in said proxy server.
 8. A method for reducing deliverylatency in a computer network when downloading electronic documents to aclient system from a proxy server, the computer network including (i) aplurality of remote servers for accessing a plurality of network sitescontaining various types of content that can be viewed and downloadedincluding electronic documents that contain both images and text fordownloading, (ii) at least one proxy server for caching content fromfrequently accessed sites of one or more of the remote servers, and(iii) a plurality of client systems to which one or more such electronicdocuments are to be downloaded for display, wherein the method comprisesthe following:a specific act of the proxy server storing a documentdatabase for electronic documents previously requested by clientsystems, said database including information as to whether a documentincludes an image in addition to text, and if so, an indication as tothe physical size of the image; a specific act of receiving at the proxyserver a request from a client system for a document that includes animage; a specific act of the proxy server determining whether therequested document is referenced in said document database; a specificact of if the requested document is referenced in said documentdatabase, the proxy server initially downloading the requested documentto the client system so as to allow the client system to display therequested document with a blank area in the downloaded document sizedand positioned to correspond to the image; a specific act of the proxyserver retrieving the image from a remote server while the requesteddocument is being downloaded to the client system; and a specific act ofthe proxy server downloading the image to the client system once theproxy server has retrieved the image from the remote server.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the specific act of the proxy serverinitially downloading the requested document to the client system so asto allow the client system to display the requested document with ablank area in the downloaded document sized and positioned to correspondto the image comprises the following:a specific act of the proxy servertranscoding the requested document using the information as to the sizeof the image to create the blank area in the requested document thatcorresponds to the image; and a specific act of the proxy serverdownloading the transcoded document to the client system.
 10. The methodof claim 8, wherein the specific act of the proxy server initiallydownloading the requested document to the client system so as to allowthe client system to display the requested document with a blank area inthe downloaded document sized and positioned to correspond to the imagecomprises the following:a specific act of the proxy server transcodingthe electronic document to create the blank area in the requesteddocument, wherein the blank area corresponds to a resized version of theimage resized to fit into a television set; and a specific act of theproxy server downloading the transcoded document to the client system.11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:a specific actof resizing the image for viewing on the television set by resizing theimage to fit within the blank area.
 12. A computer readable medium foruse in a computer network that includes (i) a plurality of remoteservers for accessing a plurality of network sites containing varioustypes of content that can be viewed and downloaded including electronicdocuments that contain both images and text for downloading, (ii) atleast one proxy server for caching content from frequently accessedsites of one or more of the remote servers, and (iii) a plurality ofclient systems to which one or more such electronic documents are to bedownloaded for display, wherein the computer readable medium includesthe following:computer executable instructions for performing a specificact of the proxy server storing a document database for electronicdocuments previously requested by client systems, said databaseincluding information as to whether a document includes an image inaddition to text, and if so, an indication as to the physical size ofthe image; computer executable instructions for performing a specificact of receiving at the proxy server a request from a client system fora document that includes an image; computer executable instructions forperforming a specific act of the proxy server determining whether therequested document is referenced in said document database; computerexecutable instructions for performing a specific act of if therequested document is referenced in said document database, the proxyserver initially downloading the requested document to the client systemso as to allow the client system to display the requested document witha blank area in the downloaded document sized and positioned tocorrespond to the image; computer executable instructions for performinga specific act of the proxy server retrieving the image from a remoteserver while the requested document is being downloaded to the clientsystem; and computer executable instructions for performing a specificact of the proxy server downloading the image to the client system oncethe proxy server has retrieved the image from the remote server.
 13. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer executableinstructions for performing the specific act of the proxy serverinitially downloading the requested document to the client system so asto allow the client system to display the requested document with ablank area in the downloaded document sized and positioned to correspondto the image comprises the following:computer executable instructionsfor performing a specific act of the proxy server transcoding therequested document using the information as to the size of the image tocreate the blank area in the requested document that corresponds to theimage; and a specific act of the proxy server downloading the transcodeddocument to the client system.